China agrees to give market access to 70 items

ISLAMABAD: China has agreed to provide market access to 70 items shared by Pakistan besides providing concession on all items included in the offer list.

This acceptance came during the negotiations held under 2nd phase of Pak-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in China.

"We want the concession on 70 import items and low tariff line on products for further trade liberalization in 2nd phase of FTA between Pakistan and China", a top official of Ministry of Commerce told APP here on Wednesday.

FTA with China, the official said negotiations on Phase-II of the agreement with the country was held in September 13 to 14 in China which was led by Secretary Commerce Younas Dhaga.

He, however, added that Pakistan was desirous to have duty relaxation on 70 products before launching the phase-II as same China given to Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries.

"We demanded unilateral relaxation on 70 different products for coming three years before signing Phase-II of FTA with China." the official said.

While talking about Pakistan and Thailand FTA , he said that both the countries have agreed on to present the complete offer list of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on October 15, 2017 for reaching near the final agreement.

Pakistan wants concession on 100 products as same Thailand granted to other FTA partners in these products, he said.

Ninth round of talks between Pakistan and Thailand will be held from November 14-15 in Thailand to reach a final decision on Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Both sides had exchanged the final offer lists of items for free trade, including automobile and textile sectors for removing the reservations of both sectors.

During the 9th round, he said, talks would be held on the text of agreement, tariff reduction modalities, complete request lists from both side and offer lists.

The official said that Pakistan had relative advantages over Thailand in some 684 commodities including cotton yarn and woven textiles, ready made garments, leather products, surgical instruments and sports goods.